River Hill's early goal is winner

No. 12 Centennial falls, 1-0, as No. 5 Hawks go to 8-1-1

Girls soccer

High schools

An early goal left the River Hill girls soccer team with a lot of time left to protect a lead yesterday at Howard County rival Centennial.

For the No. 5 Hawks, that time spent was a job well done.

With all of what would prove necessary offensively out of the way on a goal by Erika Theisen in the third minute, the Hawks marked tightly, got a splendid free-lance job from sweeper Shelley McDuff, and saw goalkeeper Katy Hudson stop a late penalty kick to walk off with a satisfying 1-0 win.

The Hawks improved to 8-1-1 overall and remained perfect at 7-0 in Howard County, while the No. 12 Eagles fell to 7-2-1 and 3-1-1 in the county.

"They're always like our closest rivals, so we always get really up for this game. It was just really intense throughout and getting an early goal was the best thing that could happen for us," said McDuff.

Theisen's goal was big, but so was Hudson's stop in the 67th minute.

Centennial All-Metro midfielder Hayley Siegel had a corner of the net targeted but said later, "I just mis-kicked it." Her shot went directly to Hudson, who had held her ground.

"That's part of the game, and I learned that a long time ago," said Siegel. "It just stinks, but you can't take it back."

Hudson's view of the same shot? "Our team worked really hard to get the early goal, and I didn't want that to go to waste," she said. "Even though most people think a penalty kick is a given goal, I was excited for it. That was a tense moment, and I was glad it worked out well for us."

The other minutes turned out well for the Hawks, too.

Theisen, a freshman, scored from right in front of the goal the first time River Hill got into its offensive third of the field after earning a throw-in on the right side. Defender Lindsay Hinkle sent the throw to the near post, where Sara Tankard did well to challenge a defender and head the ball farther along. Theisen made sure it found the back of the net in a hurry.

After that, the River Hill defense kept things tight, and any balls that got through were quickly sent back by McDuff.

"Shelley's been doing that all year," said River Hill coach Willie Ibarra. "It was a typical defensive performance from her. She just kept it compact and organized back there."